The Oakville American Legion Post 195 baseball team is back in first place in the Zone 5 standings with a 20-5 overall record.

Second-place Bethel is 18-6 and third-place Waterbury is 17-7. Oakville and Waterbury's scheduled game Tuesday was rained out and rescheduled for Thursday at a 5:45 p.m. at either Pomperaug High or Community Field in Southbury.

After a 2-3 start, Oakville has won 18 of 20 games.

"After a slow start, some of the younger players stepped up," said Ouellette. "We are playing better as a team. The guys have really bonded along the way."

Defensively, Ouellette switched his infield alignment around with shortstop Dan Brodeur, second baseman Carl Gatzendorfer (who moved from the outfield), Cooper Mooney at first base and 15-year-old Grant Wallace at third base.

Joe Peschel also plays second base when he's not pitching.

"Much better defense has helped our pitching," said Ouellette.

The pitching staff is led by Mike Calo (six wins) and Justin Mayer (five wins), along with Peschel and Mooney. Mooney threw five innings on Sunday in a 7-1 win over Naugatuck.

After a five-year run of capturing Zone 5 titles from 2008-12, Oakville finished second to Waterbury in 2013.

Over the last seven Zone 5 seasons, Oakville has recorded a 163-24 record under Ouellette, who credits assistant coaches Ben Germain and Justin Froese.

Fielding a Junior Legion team (17U) for the first time in recent years, Oakville's squad is also in contention for a the Zone 5 crown. Oakville (12-5, 15-7 overall) is percentage points behind Bethel (11-4) for first place.

"It's been a good experience," said Oakville junior legion coach Rich Pelella, who coached the Southbury Connie Mack team (19U) last summer. "We wanted to develop younger players and get the junior program started. We tried to get as much interest as we could from Watertown, Woodbury and Southbury. Five of the kids are contributing to the senior team."

The team is led by third baseman-outfielder Matt Brophy (Pomperaug), catcher Dominic Piscitelli (Nonnewaug), pitcher Owen Kane (Nonnewaug) and pitcher Anthony Rinaldi (Watertown).

By the numbers: Waterbury Post 1's Nate Zappone has a team-leading 28 runs scored with 34 stolen bases in 26 games. Jamie Butler leads the team with 27 runs batted in and has a .413 average, second on the team (31 hits, 75 at-bats).

Other top hitters for Waterbury are Tom Rinaldi (.429, 24-for-45, 19 RBI), Kyle Bonicki (.400, 34-for-85), Brendan Bessette (.411, 23-for-56). On the mound, Shea Dooley has posted a 2-0 record with a 0.37 ERA in 19 innings. Rinaldi is 5-0 with a 1.15 ERA in 31 innings.

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